Stacking the Shelves: The Bond Boys Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

This week has been blah. I've had a couple of icky-feeling days. Nothing serious, just inconvenient, and work is very chaotic with a looming deadline. Next week will probably be even worse. But I have actually gotten a lot reading done since I didn't go the gym until Wednesday of this week. Yikes.

For my book haul, I have one physical book, and it's a pretty one. I've been not-so-patiently waiting on the prices for The Bookish Box's Between Wrath and Mercy edition to go down in price on secondhand sites like Mercari. Well, I finally found someone who accepted my low-ball offer, and here we are! This book is so pretty! It may not look like much because of my not-so-great photography skills, but it has beautiful purple foiling on the front and back, Jemlin character endpaper art, and lovely stenciled edges.  It's gorgeous. And the second book is going on sale soon too! It has blue foiling!

Next, I have another Prettygal Pins tarot card deck with more Jemlin art. This deck is for J. Bree's Bonds That Tie series, and man, these are beautiful. I can't wait to display these somehow/someway/somewhere whenever I get my final shelves set up 100 years from now. I also need to actually purchase the physical books in the series, but I've been waiting for the author to release her hardcover versions. It's taking forever! Anyway, let's all take a minute to appreciate Oli and her bond boys.

And here I have some ebooks. The first two are Kindle Unlimited downloads, while the last one, Calamity by Constance Kay, is a NetGalley ARC from Bramble, the Tor SFF romance imprint. This will be my second book to review for them, and I'm excited! Tavia Lark's Prince and the Bodyguard and Nordika Night's Lot 62 are sequels to other KU books I've read recently.

 

 And here I have more KU ebooks. I downloaded Soul Eater by Lily Mayne earlier this week, and I think I binged it in like 24 hours. Maybe a little bit longer. But it was a good time. It's a post-apocalyptic MM monster romance series. It's a weird story at times (but not the weirdest I've read), but I like it. I think I'll have to take a break soon, though. I'm currently on The Rycke, book three, and there are like eight of these things. I definitely need to put on the brakes before I get burnt out.

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

The 2023 Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag

It's almost July! This year has been crazy! A lot has happened in such a short period of time. I'm getting used to my new job, I got a new place, I went to ApollyCon again, and I'm in the midst of planning an international trip! But anyway, the year being halfway over also means it’s time for the Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag.

This tag was created years ago by someone in the book community to basically wrap up the first half of a person's reading year. I’ve had a pretty great reading year so far. I've read over 50 books, which is fantastic. I'm hoping I can reach 100 by the end of 2023, but it's not the end of the world if I fall short. That's why I set my Goodreads goal so low at 30 books. I hate the pressure.

As of June 18, 2023, I’ve read 54 books and completed my Goodreads Challenge. I’m not going to change my goal from 30 books, but, like I said, reaching 100 by the end of the year would be awesome. I haven't done that since early college, I believe. I think I can do it as long as my momentum stays consistent. And, like I said this time last year, I'm also hoping to read more books on my TBR shelves in the coming months. I've been reading a ton of Kindle Unlimited ebooks, so it'd be nice to mark more physical books off my list.

BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2023

I'm not cheating with this question, but I do have a very close runner-up, so I wanted to list them both.

Margaret Rogerson's Mysteries of Thorn Manor, the follow-up novella to Sorcery of Thorns, was delightful! I gave it 4.5 stars! (I rarely give five stars, just FYI.) The only reason it didn't get five stars was because it was too short! I just wish Rogerson had written a full-length sequel. I want it so bad! The close runner-up read is Untainted by Lilian T. James. I also gave this one 4.5 stars! It reminded me a lot of SJM's Heir of Fire.

BEST SEQUEL YOU’VE READ SO FAR

It took some time for me to figure this one out, mostly because I've read very few sequels to great series this year. I've mostly been reading a lot of bingeable KU romances, so those aren't always the best when it comes to sequels.

I decided to go with City of Ruin by Charissa Weaks. The first book, The Witch Collector, was a good time, and it reminded me a lot of From Blood and Ash mixed with Raven Kennedy's Plated Prisoner series. Book one really focuses on the two main characters, Raina and Alexus, but book two adds more POVs to the story, which I loved. There were a couple of scenes that confused me in this book, so I think I only gave it four stars, though.

NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET, BUT WANT TO

This one is a big one. I've been waiting on this book for so long, as have many, many others. But, now that it's actually here, I find myself putting it off for a very specific reason.

From the Grave by Kresley Cole is the last book in the Arcana Chronicles. I want to know how this series ends, but first, I need to reread books 1-3, and then just plain read books 3.5-5. I just haven't been in the mood to reread, which sucks. I'm crossing my fingers I won't be spoiled before I get to this one.

MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE FOR

THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR

There's one major 2023 release that I'm desperate for, and I think we all know what that is. But there are a couple of others that I also really want to get my hands on.

A Soul of Ash and Blood comes out very soon (July 18th, and I've already taken the day off work!), so I'm cheating and listing three others that are coming out/likely to come out before the end of 2023. The other books I'm most anticipating are The Midnight Kingdom by Tara Sim (August), Gold by Raven Kennedy (December), and Zodiac Academy #9, which doesn't have a title or a release date yet. I'm just hoping it comes out before 2024. I think it will, but there's a part of me that doubts.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

I don't think I had a book that disappointed me as much as last year's did, but there is one that comes to mind when I think about books I wanted to love more.

To Bleed a Crystal Bloom by Sarah A. Parker was not good. At all. I'd heard so many great things about it, but yikes. It was just a mess. It's a dark Rapunzel retelling, but the love interest knew the female main character when she was a baby and raised her as a child, so it's gross. Plus, the overuse of flowery, metaphoric language was annoying. There are two secondary characters that I'd like to know more about, but I just don't want to read the next however-many sequels.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

I first thought there wasn't anything that surprised me so far this year, but I actually do have one.

Rebecca Ross's A River Enchanted was a whimsical, lyrical, fantastical tale that I very much enjoyed. I didn't think it would be something I would vibe with, but I read it to prep for ApollyCon and as part of my book club. And, even though it's a story with two romantic pairings, it was definitely a good book to break up some of the romantasy reads I'd been devouring on Kindle Unlimited.

FAVORITE NEW AUTHOR

Ugh. This was not an easy question. In fact, I do not like this question this year.

I have way too many new authors I discovered in 2023, primarily due to Kindle Unlimited and my reading for ApollyCon. Since Untainted is my second-favorite book of the year so far, I'm going with Lilian T. James as my favorite new author, but there are so many others I also enjoyed, like Charissa Weaks, Harper L. Woods, Amber Nicole, Rebecca Ross, Ashlyn Drewek, Andrea Stewart, J. Bree, and even Rebecca Yarros (though I did think Fourth Wing was a tad overhyped).

NEWEST FICTIONAL CRUSH

Ack! Another difficult question! There are just too many options!

I'm going to go with Rainer from Jessica Wisecup's Between Wrath and Mercy and Jaren from Untainted, both are dedicated to their respective partners, though Jaren is a little... intense. The boys aren't too hard on the eyes, either, if you know what I mean. That might be a silly statement since they're book characters, but I think this art will sway you to my side. Both are pieces from the Bookish Box editions of each title. I know Rainier was created by Jemlin (left), but I'm not sure who drew Jaren. Also, I'll give shoutouts to Thorne from FORAW, Gabe from The Bonds that Tie series, Graeme from Malum Discordiae, and Caelum from What Lies Beyond the Veil.

NEWEST FAVORITE CHARACTER

Mephi from Andrea Stewart's Drowning Empire series is 100% my new favorite character for 2023. I mean, look at him! He's adorable! He's a made-up creature in that series, so it's hard to describe him. I always kind of pictured them as little otters with horns, so this depiction is pretty accurate, in my opinion. Oh, Mephi, you did a very good. (Art by crispyjellies)

BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY

I had a hard time thinking of an answer to this question, but as I was typing out my answer to the previous question, it came to me.

  While I didn't uncontrollably sob while reading The Bone Shard War, I did shed quite a few tears. This finale truly has a bittersweet ending that took me a couple of weeks to come to terms with. I still don't know how I feel about certain events, but I do know that they made me emotional, so kudos to the author for that.

BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY

This was an easy one. I feel like it always will be with this particular series.

Once again, Mysteries of Thorn Manor wins! Just thinking about this one makes me smile. The characters, the magical books, the demon, the enchanted house. It all adds up to make a lovely story. Like I said earlier, though, I wish it had been longer.

FAVORITE BOOK ADAPTATION

YOU SAW THIS YEAR

I believe there are only three book-to-screen adaptations I saw this year: Heartstopper, Shadow & Bone season two, and Daisy Jones and the Six. I actually haven't read Daisy Jones, so that one is out, plus it wasn't a favorite, though it was entertaining enough. Heartstopper was cute, for sure, but Shadow and Bone season two is the clear winner. While I didn't love every decision that was made in the second season, it was still a very good time. I hope it gets renewed, but it seems unlikely with how dumb Netflix is about series renewals.

FAVORITE REVIEW YOU’VE WRITTEN THIS YEAR

The major 2023 review event that happened to me is that I received an early ARC of JLA's Fall of Ruin and Wrath! I begged some publishing friends for a copy, and they sent me one! My review is already live, and I'm excited to see what happens in book two. I just hope it releases in 2024, though that means JLA will have like four books releasing next year (two in the FBAA series, maybe the last Origin book, and then FORAW #2). I don't see how she does it.

 

You can read my review of FORAW here.

MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU’VE

RECEIVED SO FAR THIS YEAR

Unlike last year around this time, I've actually received a lot of beautiful books. And, while it wasn't hard to choose the #1 spot, it was difficult not to mention the dozen or so other pretty books I also got. It's just been a good six months for aesthetics all around.

 The Russian edition of From Blood and Ash is absolutely gorgeous! It has a color map, colored character artwork, a design on the naked hardcover, and a spectacular cover. The second book's cover was also revealed recently, and I'm very much looking forward to getting my hands on that one as well. And I just have to mention that the LitJoy Red Queen box set is a very, very close second.

WHAT BOOKS DO YOU NEED TO READ

BY THE END OF THE YEAR

Everything on my never-ending TBR! Ugh. But some of the highlights, which haven't really changed a lot from what I answered last year, are:

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

The Arcana Chronicles series by Kresley Cole

The Crave series by Tracy Wolff

The Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy by Kerri Maniscalco

These are the ones I want to have completed or at least, in the case of some of the longer series like Crave and Arcana, significantly made my way through. I'm also over halfway through ASoS, I just need to finish the rest. I also have a few others I'd like to get to, but the ones I've listed are more important in terms of how long they've been on my physical TBR.

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Alright, there you have it. My Mid-Year Book Freak Out answers for 2023. What would your answers to these questions be? Let me know in the comments below!

Stacking the Shelves: The Red Queen LitJoy Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

This week has been a lot more chill than last week. I have a pretty big project at work, but other than that, I'm just relaxing. Oh, but I did visit my parents last Saturday, and I managed to get all of my FBAA editions packed up, transported, and arranged on my shelf in my bedroom, where I plan for all my favorites to live so I can look at them before I go to sleep. Ha ha. And after that, my friends and I spent a lot of money arranging our international trip. Ugh. Why do cool things always have to be expensive?! Oh, and major bummer, I didn't manage to get good Primal or Titan tickets for ApollyCon. I did get two Q&A tickets and a hotel block rate, so we'll see if I can score resale tickets or maybe volunteer. I'm not super optimistic though.

For my book haul this week, I have something that made the sting of not getting ApollyCon tickets slightly better. My LitJoy Red Queen special editions came in. And at first, I was upset with myself for buying these things. They were $200! But once I saw them in person, I had no regrets. They're gorgeous! And one day, I hope to reread the series, so I can look at all of the little annotations Victoria Aveyard put in these editions. I'm not sure when that'll be, though.

Next, I have an FBAA item. Are we surprised? I'd hope not. It's a given at this point that there will be a Poppy, Hawke, or Kieran in each of my hauls. This week, I have a standee of Poppy and Hawke. It's from Ivy Gwendoline. She has some amazing standees in her shop. I hope she does some more FBAA ones, but with all the licensing partnerships ending because of the Amazon show, I don't know if that'll happen. I'd love a Kieran, though.

And here I have my Barnes & Noble preorder of Tracy Wolff's Cherish, the last book in the Crave series...I think? I know there is at least one spinoff coming, but who knows what else Tracy will release in this world. Also, I still haven't read books 2-5, but did I take advantage of that 25% B&N preorder sale? Absolutely. Also, I received an ARC of Sara Hashem's The Jasad Heir from Orbit. I'm super excited about this one! I'm hoping I can get to it this month, but it just depends on my reading slump. Well, it's not really a reading slump per say. I want to read, I just can't find anything that calls to me out of the hundreds of unread books I have and I'm trying not to read more KU books.

 

 

 

 As for ebooks, I have three this week, all from different places, kind of. I purchased Zodiac Academy: The Awakening, book one of the series, on Amazon when it was $0.99. I figured it was a good investment if I cancel my KU membership, which I've been thinking about doing due to the price increase. I also borrowed Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree from the library. I don't know if I'll get to it before the three-week return date arrives. I guess I'll just put another hold on it, if so. And finally, I have The Beauty and the Orcs by Finley Fenn. This book released on Friday, and I finished it on Saturday. I don't know why, but the books in that series are so addicting. Well, of the three I've read that is. The first five didn't really interest me, so I skipped them.

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

Stacking the Shelves: The Ruthless Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

It's been a hectic week. I had a dentist appointment Thursday, I locked myself out of my place last weekend when I was setting up some ant traps near my front door, I had two Zoom meeting with my friend where we planned 80% of the international trip we're taking in the fall, and the big thing, ApollyCon tickets go on sale Friday night. Now, I'm typing this Thursday evening, so at this point, I don't know if I was able to get tickets. I guess you'll find out next week. Last year, I was only able to get them through the resale thread, so we'll see what happens...

For my book haul this week, I have a good pile of stuff. First up, is a paperback set of the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series that I bought off Mercari like 1.5 months ago. They shipped from Hawaii, so it took forever. Honestly, if I'd known they were being shipped from Hawaii, I wouldn't have bought them. I was trying to save a bit of money by not purchasing new copies on Amazon, but the wait honestly wasn't worth the money I saved. Plus, the seller advertised them as "never before read" and that was obvious bullsh!t. One of the books had a pack of unused annotating tabs stuck in it. (Free tabs for me!) And the last two books were visibly concave from someone having read them. I'll have to perform some surgery to see if I can straighten them up a bit. I saw a video online about using a hairdryer to soften the glue and a rubber band to hold the book in its correct place. So yeah, that purchase was not worth the money.

Next, I have the second hardcover edition in Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter campaign. This is The Frugal Wizard's Handbook to Surviving Medieval England. I have no idea if this book is part of his larger Cosmere universe or not, but I probably won't read it anytime soon. Eventually I'll get to all the high-fantasy Sanderson books, but I'll probably wait until the fifth Way of Kings book is released to get that started.

And here are my ebooks for the week. I was approved for a NetGalley review copy of Enchanted to Meet You by Meg Cabot (yay!), and The Demon Prince by Amanda Aggie was free on Kindle. Therefore, I downloaded it. I also downloaded Igni Ferroque by Ashlyn Drewer and Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen via Kindle Unlimited. I was in a slump last weekend. I wanted to read so badly, but I just couldn't get into any book I picked up or thought about picking up, so I honestly think I downloaded two or three other KU books as well. Igni Ferroque is the only one that I left on there for longer than a day. Also, I received some Orc Sworn novellas from Finley Fenn's newsletter, but they were really short. I couldn't even count them towards my Goodreads goal, since they're not on Goodreads, so I don't see the point in showing the covers..

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

May Wrap-Up & June TBR

Holy cow! It's June! The year is already almost halfway over, and I'm not mentally prepared for it. Overall though, it's been a decent month. Work was a little chaotic and stressful at first, but that's over now. I'm free! For a while anyway. I'm slowly but surely getting my new place up and running, which basically means organizing and cleaning things that the landlady didn't, like the garage. Eww. And I'm having a good ol' time reading oh-so-many things.

In this wrap-up, I’ll list the books I read, the books I reviewed, the books I bought/received, and my TBR for next month. Now, let’s get this bookish party started!

Books Read in May

Garron Park: 3.5 stars (KU)

Savage Rivals: 3 stars (KU)

Line Mates & Study Dates: 3 stars (KU)

Puck Drills & Quick Thrills: 3 stars (KU)

A Door in the Dark: 3 stars (my review)

Egotistical Puckboy: 3.5 stars (KU)

A Fire Endless: 4 stars

Fourth Wing: 4 stars

Foolish Puckboy: 3 stars (KU)

Bro and the Beast 1: 3.5 stars (KU)

Bro and the Beast 2: 3 stars (KU)

Malum Discordiae: 4 stars (KU)

Bro and the Beast 3: 4 stars (KU)

The Blighted Stars: 4 stars (my review)

Prince and Pawn: 3 stars (KU)

I read 15 books in May, which is insane. I seriously felt like I was in a reading slump all month, but it turns out I was just devouring fast-paced romance fluff instead of the denser fantasy books that I typically read. Of the 15 books I read, 11 were from Kindle Unlimited. The KU books include Garron Park by Nordika Night; Savage Rivals by Becca Steele; Line Mates & Study Dates, Puck Drills & Quick Thrills, Egotistical Puckboy, and Foolish Puckboy by Saxon James and Eden Finley; Bro and the Beast 1, 2, and 3; Malum Discordiae by Ashlyn Drewek, and Prince and Pawn by Tavia Lark. The Bro and the Beast books are pretty short. Each one is only like 130-ish pages. I also read A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross as a library ebook. So 12 ebooks total in May. The rest of the books I read were physical copies. They include  A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, and The Blighted Stars by Megan O'Keefe. I read an ARC of The Blighted Stars, and absolutely none of the physical books I read were on my TBR pre-2023. Ugh. I really need to try to get back to reading my large backlist.

Books Bought/Received in May

I spent waaaaay too much money in May. It was bad. Like ApollyCon-level bad but spent it all in 31 days instead of spreading it out over a few months. I knew it was going to be a very spendy month when FairyLoot started dropping some special edition sales, but I just kept impulse-buying other things too. I have zero self-control. I'm hoping I can contain myself in June. I've already skipped my FairyLoot sub for June to make up for the overspending. In total, I purchased 21 books in May, and I received 16 books total within the month.

The books I bought and actually received in May include an Amazon order for three of Kresley Cole's Arcana Chronicles books, Day Zero, The Dark Calling, and From the Grave, and three Barnes & Noble preorder books: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent (which I technically ordered in April, but I don't think I was charged until May), and Cursed Crowns by Katherine Webber and Catherine Doyle. I also bought an ebook, Wicked Abyss by Kresley Cole, because I had some Kindle credits that were going to expire. That's seven books that I bought and received in May. I also bought some books that I haven't received yet. Those include a Mercari order of all five original paperbacks of the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac (this order is coming from Hawaii, so I have no idea when/if it'll make it here or if it'll make it here in one piece), preorders for the FairyLoot editions of Cassandra Clare's Last Hours series and Andrea Stewart's Drowning Empire trilogy, a B&N preorder for Cherish by Tracy Wolff that's being shipped to my parents' house, and my May Adult FairyLoot book and another Mercari order for the new FBAA ApollyCon cover that both technically arrived in June. There are even a couple more special editions I wanted to buy, but I held strong. But if they're still on sale next month, I may give in and buy them. Eeek.

As for what I received in May, that's a little more complicated. My April adult FairyLoot arrived in May, it's In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune (with that god-awful redesigned cover), and my FairyLoot Crescent City editions also arrived (not pictured). I won an ARC of Ink Blood Sister Scribe from the publisher, and received an ARC of The Sun and the Void to review via Orbit. My preorder of the French edition of The Crown of Gilded Bones arrived, and I also got a "free" Australian copy of A Shadow of the Ember as I couldn't return it due high shipping costs. I ordered it from Amazon.fr and tried to cancel but it wasn't fast enough, I guess. I also got two novellas from Vela Roth, Blood Legacy and Blood Dream, from the author's newsletter. Altogether, that's nine books received (not paid for) during the month of May.

Currently Obsessed With

Well, I actually have a few different shows to talk about this month. However, I also finished my umpteenth rewatch of The Office, only to, a few weeks later, start it all over again. It's just easy to flip it on when I need something to watch while I'm eating.

I think the biggest show I watched this month was Netflix's Queen Charlotte limited series. It was fun. And sad. It definitely made me excited for Bridgerton season three to come out too, whenever the heck that'll be. After that, I watched The Maid on Netflix, another limited series. This one was also sad, but uplifting. And then finally, before I started back into my The Office rewatch, I watched Heartstopper season one. It was cute. A little cringey at times with a terrible actor playing the bully role, but overall, cute. Oh, and I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 with my dad Memorial Day weekend. It was also a bit sad. It was better than a lot of the recent Marvel movies have been, but it still wasn't as good as the first two films.

June TBR

I have a few repeat TBR books on here, as well as some newbies. First up, the books I need to review. That includes The Pariah by Anthony Ryan, The Sun and the Void, and Gwen & Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher (NetGalley ARC). I also want to read A Dragon's Promise before the FairyLoot sale of Elizabeth Lim's new book goes live. I'm still currently reading Bound in Firelight by Dana Swift. I've been reading it for a while now. I also have three library ebooks to read this month before they disappear from my Kindle. Those are The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, Lightlark by Alex Aster, and Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. And then, I have a couple of others I want to re-read, like Crave and Poison Princess so I can finish bingeing the rest of the series. And finally, I want to read Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen, which is on Kindle Unlimited for a limited amount of time, thereby contradicting the "Unlimited." This is a lofty TBR. I'm betting I only get to three of these, realistically speaking.

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Okay, well, that's the month of May, plus some June sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!